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Sitemap Part 7 --- --- --- --- --- Definition of a Building in Rapture : * Independently/Free standing structure * May have one or more (or many) interior 'floors' * Has a substantial Foundation on/embedded in rock seafloor that has to carry the weight of the building. * Structure is built to withstand ocean currents including greatly increased water currents/turbulence caused by storms. * All buildings are protected by automatic pressure seals (doors like Securis or larger types) including utility line protection. * Outer walls usually made of reinforced concrete, capable of withstanding depth pressure (often assisted by compression struts inside the structure). Rebar/wires of lesser quality Ryanium was frequently used to reinforce concrete. The water pressure does decrease closer to the surface allowing less massive walls). * Some buildings have a superstructure of Ryanium (no concrete) which have much thinner walls and internal girder structuring. Of course this also vastly increased the cost, so was generally used on special 'show' buildings. * Most Buildings have windows of various sizes embedded in the Outer wall. Windows are set in strong metal frames that are inset and supported by the outer structural walls. Walls have a variety of external decoration/structural patterns. * Buildings will have at least 2 'Street' level connection either directly to 'Street' structure or by a viaduct (this level may be a substantial distance up the side of the building and not adjacent to the 'basement') * Every Building has at least one Seafloor level airlock. * May have its own Metro station (very large. buildings - often one on 'roof') * Tall building have elevator systems. Very tall buildings have 'stepped' elevator systems to meet the pressure division requirements. * If large enough, a building is divided into separate pressure safe divisions (pressure doors between them) to prevent catastrophic failures (if elevator shafts are involved on a tall building the stepped elevators have a pressure seal between them). * All multi-floor buildings have interior stairwells/staircases. * All buildings have utilities that come from one or more adjacent City Mains Utility hub. * Basement level that houses machinery used to maintain the buildings environment and systems like the elevators. * Tall building have Fresh water reservoirs usually located at the roof levels (and double as a fire water supply). * In inhabited sections Inner wall usually cover utility mechanisms mounted against outer structural walls and provide insulation. Inner wall modules match the standard window patterns. * Dividing walls used to break space up into rooms, with doorways to give access - Interior 'standard' modules with variety of wall/hall/doorway patterns/options. * All buildings have Sumps (leak water collection basins) and large buildings have their own pump stations). * Large building can have their own Phone Local Office switching system. * Tram and Trolley transport at 'Street' level used for passenger and cargo. A secondary tram system can exist at basement level for garbage transport and access to utility facilities. * Utility 'Building Mains' usually run in sealed core up thru floors of building. * What goes on in the tall buildings. ** In a surface city there are alot of commercial office jobs for companies that manage holdings across a country or even the World. Rapture is isolated. There are no extensive commercial jobs in Rapture - only for companies within Rapture itself (141 million US 1946 vs ~20000 in Rapture more than 7000 : 1). So not really that much commercial office use per capita as you WOULD see in New York City. ** Apartments of varying sizes will fit in the typical floor plan of tall buildings ** Factories usually take up irregular volumes and are not suitable to tall High-Rise buildings. ** Small manufacturing may have some place in tall buildings (workshops...) ** Showy open volumes are frequently used in tall buildings to impress. Because of the nature of the water pressure pressing on the sides of the building special structures are needed to allow large voids to exist inside a tall building structure. ** Various shops and services are usually located near the Street level for easy/quick access by customers. * Additional viaducts connecting to adjacent building may exist at any level/height. * Buildings which are a long distance from the City's primary heat source (Hephaestus) will have their own air heating units. * For the PCA (Player Created Asset) system each floor would match a given Template profile of the buildings configuration/pattern of elevator/stairwell/utility shafts (so that they compatibly match up when stacked) and details like Window inset patterns (usually common up sides of the building). Within those limitations interior dividing walls can have very different configurations depending on use or variations. Interior decoration themes usually also would be shared consistently. * Street level floors usually have atriums and building directories and waiting space for access to elevators (and extra high ceilings). * Many tall building have (had) residential units on a range of floors which could have upto 8 apartments per floor (or fewer for larger 'deluxe' apartments - - all the way to full floor Suites and penthouses). --- --- --- Flavors of generic 'building blocks' for the city (Major structural 'modules') : * All structural modules have sub-modules to allow varying of detail and function and combinations of connecting adjacent structures. * Plaza/square with Trolley 4 way intersection (centered tracks 4 sides with 4 corner buildings) Having a lower trolley level and an upper 'plaza' level would probably be a better design. 3-way Trolley intersection also. Prefer large open space in the center. * Street block (linear) with buildings one side, windows the other, building 3 stories and basement. Trolley tracks and two/one/none. Modular sections allow continuous extensions. * Street block (linear) with buildings both side, windows the other buildings 2 levels and basement. Trolley tracks and two/one/none. Modular sections allow continuous extensions. * High-rise building (Adjacent to Street or possibly with trolley line pass thru (no intersection). Public space at Street level, residence and commercial on floors above. Floors are modular and can have significantly different layouts. Modular sections allow continuous extensions. Vertical modularity (floors) allows variable height. * Metro station adjacent to plaza. Single/multiple line variations. * Metro switch stations (where more than one Metro Way cable intersects. Allows switching between cableways. * Atlantic Express station (below Street level) linked to plaza * Atlantic Express track sections - straight and curved - girdered piers in open ocean, tunnels thru 'hills' at other points. * Connecting Street - trolley tracks and 'road' surface only (may still have kiosks) ** Straight sections ** Curved sections with 1/16 circle (22.5 degree) There may be more than one radius size * Utility Conduit 'aqueducts' - pier supported utility pipes, enclosed tunnels used to run independent from Street module Utilities. Many irregular block shape to both connect to buildings and to go around outside obstacles. * Viaduct blocks - smaller pedestrian passages used to connect buildings. Often are largely windows. A whole variety of lengths/angles/intersections exist (as we've seen in BS1/BS2). Templates would likely have adjustable sizing to fit correctly between other structures. * Standard Doors/doorways, Securis and others that fit in standard external door slots * Caverns - large underground hollowed areas in rock - may have pillars and ribbed reinforcement depending on size of the open space spanned. * Tunnels - underground Rock or concrete lined passages * Foundation - large (usually trapezoidal) block of concrete used to support buildings and other structures. Size and shape varies greatly - adaptable scripting - would perfect for a 'flexible' Object that has adjustable dimensions. Foundations often have an interior network of tunnels and chambers that saved on concrete where it wasn't required for structural strength (also useful to have script generate these automatically). --- --- --- There are many reasons for buildings to have massive concrete structural walls : * Having to be strong enough to hold out the pressure at the 600 ft depth (~280 psi). * Resisting the ocean currents (especially the leverage of tall buildings) and holding up the full massive structure of the building. * Heavy enough to have neutral buoyancy to evenly distribute the water displacement of the building's volume (it wants to float upwards in the water unless it weighs the same as the water it displaces). * Strong enough to support the force transferred from all the inset windows (which are gaps in the buildings structural integrity) * Strong enough to not fail structurally even when leaks go thru the walls. * Able to support adjacent structure like the 'Street' viaducts. --- --- --- Things seen in Rapture's Research Labs (that didn't quite work out) : * Lethal Worcestershire Sauce in a packet (side project of the Ketchup packet research) * Cat on a Flying Bot - with the limited supply of 'intelligent electronics' all kinds of solutions were tried (flew OK, but not successful because cats are cats). * Spider Daddies for doing maintenance INSIDE the walls (creeped-everyone-out so much that the project was abandoned) * Color TVs. Problem was that everything else is already Black&White and the project stopped with the Kashmir incident. * 7 course dinner sent thru the Jet Postal Pneumo ("Dine IN like a King") - hungry Jet Postal workers got some good eats (or had to clean out alot more Pneumo tubes). * Patrol Blimps (no, not an idea from Infinite) Camera equipped Surveillance platform used in open spaces where it can hover quietly undetected (electric motors and battery, maybe with a spotlight and warning lights used when transiting narrow passageways). They proved way too easy to shoot down (its a balloon..) and got stuck on things when errant air currents pushed them off course. * Robotic Little Sister (actually WAS in the game - Minerva's Den DLC):**A failed technology product made by Jack McClendon ** http://bioshock.wikia.com/wiki/Robotic_Little_Sisters ** http://images.wikia.com/bioshock/images/9/9d/Robotic_littlesister.png ** Use of Robotic Little Sister for ??? Sensor patrol ?? ** Substitute Mini-Turret for the head?? ammo limit ... cute little backpack for ammo ** Substitute Security Scanner for the Head (cant look worse than a 'Boys of Silence') ** Tenenbaum might have thought of something like this on seeing the stuff in Minerva's Den * Flybot window cleaners - all those big windows in Rapture add up to alot of work - worked better than the 'giant window wiper' solution, but never did an adequate job to warrant the expense. * EVE in a can. An attempt to solve the "my EVE vial broke" problem. Unfortunately opening a can was hardly quick and manipulating a can opener while in combat was not condusive to survival. Poptop can technology were never imported to Rapture. * A way to Camouflage the Lighthouse, not just from visual detection but also from Radar (ala Philadelphia Experiment). Unfortunately several test objects disappeared and never returned. Follow up research was done as a potential disposal method for toxic waste. --- --- --- Isometric maps for Tablet Mini-Games : * How to get/convert simplified real terrain ?? (building blocks may have premade 'sprites'), a program to digest the 3D data and build a 'tiled' representation (not that hard as the 'tile' version doesn't have to be exact and really is a abstracted representation.) * How big should 'tiles' be -- 64x64 ?? (need to be able to see distance for some mini-games so bigger tiles - less on screen) * Animated (sprite) tiles (prefer no 'big head' caricatures if possible) Animation sprites CAN be made with tools from the original game 3D Assets and existing human figure animations (versus hand drawing them which is quite tedious). * Centered movement mapping (allows adapting to 'tablets' and handhelds of varying screen resolutions) - Player always in middle of screen. * Example: the Farming simulation that corresponds to a real farm location in MMORPGs 3D game world (Mini-Game for typical farm actions of rearranging farms items and upgrading and chasing off the periodic vermin) * CIV style representation/interface of Rapture (versus real 3D style map) for city management mini-games?? How crude should it/can it be?? Could be used for status maps at least (where 'symbolic' maps are used for summaries). --- --- --- Current Vita-Chamber Research : Research project to use the Vita-Chambers mechanism to realign/tune a Splicer to eliminate some of the "genetic turbulence" ADAM use sideeffects that results in the damage and insanity. Unfortunately the circuitry is rather complex (think of a hacking pipe mini-game with as many 'pipe cells' as pixels on your screen...). Citizens are asked to keep an eye out for research documentation labeled "Vita-Chamber Mk1" Ongoing 'development tasks (Mini-Games) to solve the circuitry reprogramming. Bounties would be placed by city for bringing in Vita-Chambers from the 'Wild' for the needed components. --- --- --- Totipotent and ADAM, ADAM and Totipotent : * Having unlimited capability. A "totipotent" cell has the capacity to form an entire organism. ADAMs T-Cell process fit this definition. * Unfortunately if not controlled properly, it results in 'genetic turbulance' and disruptions of the structure of the organism. * Splicing Plasmids too frequently and mixing different 'flavors' led to disrupted genetic changes that afflicted so many people in Rapture. In some cases quality control of the 'consumer' products were also a cause. * Explains how Delta could be reconstituted from some skeletal remains scraped out of a clogged sewer. * The X-Cell therapy used in the 'Cure' process has to be carefully monitored and adjusted to prevent recurrence of more genetic turbulence (having mechanisms from the Vita-Chambers do this would make the process much less difficult/tedious). --- --- --- The 'City Center' (originally called Fort Rapture) is fundamentally one Plaza with a cluster of building around it : * City Hall and government offices are in a single 20 story building (much of which is still empty) which contains the Library, Archives, Museum, City Records, Accounting Offices, Inventory storerooms, etc... * The growing transit Systems radiates out from that point (Metro stations and Atlantic Express station). * The 'Clinic' is in one of the adjacent buildings (research, therapy, rehabilitation, holding cells). * The original housing for the inhabitants (barracks) is now part of the Dole Facilities. * The location was chosen partially because it had direct Utility Mains going to Hephaestus (named 'the Aqueduct') and could not be cutoff through intervening city territory. it also was a pocket that had limited approaches that allowed it to be defended adequately (versus a plaza with 12 different transportation paths leading in to it). * The 'Downtown' spread from there out on the connecting Streets to the adjacent plazas/squares (including Neptunes Bounty). - This city section is being 'prettified' to make it look like its original pre-Civil War appearance as a model of what the rest of New Rapture will one day look like. * Administrative center of the New Rapture with many of the institutions coordinated (all the communications radiating outward). * The Forum, where Citizens of New Rapture meet to interact and hear the latest news and discussions and transact business (modeled after a roman forum or greek agora). Having a crowd of people who aren't insane and trying to kill you is a novelty. * The central Bank is located in the City Center. They don't do 'loans' but facilitate financial transaction by allowing people to not have to carry around huge wads of CASH all the time. Rent and other routine transactions are processed by the 'computerized' system. * A small baseball field with a amateur league was created as a demonstration of a return to 'normalcy'. --- --- --- CityScape the players have seen : * Observing the cityscape visible thru the BS1/BS2 windows (or from in the water outside using a cheat) at various points, at least some locations are surrounded by dozens of tall buildings. Buildings sitting on tall foundations far below. * Unfortunately other locations that should be on the edge of the city show the same 'Skybox'/'skydome' view. The developers saved the effort of creating additional 360 degree views, but it give us no help in trying to judge the layout of the City for the MMORPG. * So, making allowances for what is shown, some locations do have many tall high-rise buildings - - a few 40+ stories tall and more ~30 stories and many more ~20 stories (not counting the foundation many are sitting on). * Many 'short' building are built on rocks elevated well above the Foundation/seabed of nearbye high-rise 'Surface Scrapers'. The terrain in the city is not flat and there looks to be many ravines/valleys and ridges interspersed in parts of the city. (Some locations apparently were located for 'the view'.) * Atlantic Express structures (elevated tracks supported on towers) running across the seascape. * Cables with lights suspended to illuminate outside areas (otherwise at the depth would be very dark out there). * Lots of lit signs and buildings illuminated by large lights. * Wreckage on some buildings (some with large chunks torn out of them) * Various wreckage littering the seafloor. --- --- --- The City Freight system : * What is the equivalent of 'trucks' in Rapture ??? (You cannot supply a city with everything carried by hand). * The Available Freight transport systems: ** Trolleys - freight moves at night and many buildings adjacent to the 'Streets' have freight sidings (small items can be loaded at any Trolley stop). ** Metro Bathyspheres - for smaller sized deliveries that warrant the higher expense (used by hand couriers) ** Atlantic Express - Higher capacity, for large/bulk shipments (including bulk industrial movement of raw materials with Long haulage from remote sites). AE mainlines go to the larger satellite 'support' communities (freight and passenger traffic). ** Trams - used for the City Maintenance/Utilities and many of the industrial sites (where AE doesn't go). ** Jet Postal - Only small things can be moved by Pneumo (and expensively) ** Submarine - required for surface supply ( a pressure sealed Bathysphere sized 'container' can carry more than 15 tons of cargo from the surface) or moving items 'Outside' in the ocean. Heavy lift for structural components (ie - a towed Lift Balloon the size of a Bathysphere can lift more than 25 tons and can be made much larger for large premade building components). ** Freight elevators in High-Rise buildings (cable type) and elsewhere (hydraulics for upto ~5 floors) * There are many Transfer points between the different systems ** Port of Rapture Submarine transport and trans-shipping (modules/containerized) ** Moving goods from Manufacturing to Warehouses to Shops and delivery to Residences ** Delivery Services to transport individual shipments manually to small locations (residences, shops, etc..) * Bulk Loads : ** Food and goods distribution (source to manufacturing to shops - just 1 pound per day for 20000 people in Rapture was 10 tons along each link of the transport chain) ** Refuse hauling - garbage ** Fertilizer to the farms (processed fishguts and sewage) ** Construction materials for the rebuilding and maintenance ** City Environmental Machinery for repairs * The AE Freight Yard (located to the East of the AE Depot) ** Empty car storage and as a marshaling yard for organizing trains to take cars to specific destinations. ** Organize routing for various destinations in the city. * Destinations ** Freight rooms in building basements (including Delivery Service locations) ** Warehouses ** City Dump (will be subjected to recycling by the City Dump employees) * The Partially rebuilt/restored system currently in New Rapture : ** A priority for the City Council to get all Trolleys running on the 'Streets' within the safe zones to improve productivity (less hours wasted walking). ** The 'Under the Street' Trams largely work, just need to clear the tracks/tunnels of obstructions and rewire. ** AE system is disjoint with heavy damage outside to the trackways which will take much more effort to reconstruct. ** Metro Bathyspheres - many routes repaired (cables restrung) but the automatic routings are mostly not working. ** Jet Postal Pneumo service restored in many sections within the City's control. ** Submarines - a number working, others are being repaired/rebuilt after years of neglect. ** Hydraulic elevators were simpler and easier to fix. High-rise cable elevators are harder to get working again and so many buildings do not have them running yet. * Missions: Jobs related to Freight operations. ** Mr Brown buys a New Refrigerator .... entire path from pickup at the manufacturing plant and to the freight station near the Residence and then manhandling to the Apartment. ** Playing Train Engineer - driving AE trains thru Rapture and delivering/picking-up cars to the many sidings. ** Trolley Service - a busy day moving people in the City (with the standard 12 incidents of boarding passenger not having change for the fare... City is reinstituting a 'Trolley Token' system. ** Pneumo repairman and delivery (repair a tube from a routing junction to a Pneumo Box) --- --- --- Delivery Services : * Several small companies specialize in moving goods from local freight drops to Residences or Shops. * Animations of NPCs working a Dolly Carts to move bulky Objects will be needed. * Wheel barrows do work still. * A common sight in the city is the deliverymen moving stuff everywhere (including players transporting their 'loot' to the various destinations (base, city clearinghouse, market, dump). --- --- --- Non-Splicers who 'holed themselves up' when the Civil War took place : * The supplies stopped flowing, the stores emptied. Prices went up for what was left. * Deranged Splicers wandering the halls interfering with any normal life.* Guns - must buy guns and ammo .....(convienent ammo vending machines installed made this easier) * Some turned to Splicing to have something to defend themselves (Ryan installed the Gatherers Garden machines) * People trapped in the City with no refuge (some moved out to the support communities outside Rapture) * Many were simply killed in the faction fighting or fell prey to deranged Splicers (or starved). * Some groups got organized (strength in numbers) an locked down strong locations (particularly ones with access to food resources and other key resources or cleverly built up their own). * Ryan maintained City infrastructure and production to supply his forces and the remaining population that still supported him. * Atlas brought in some supplies via his smuggling connections (moved from Neptunes Bounty after the 'Great Shoot Out') Another smuggler base was built somewhere... * Many of these groups managed to avoid Sophia Lambs tyranny (actually she controlled only a small portion of Rapture). * Some groups were mixed groups of Non-Splicers with less insane Splicers.* More than a few of these enclaves still exist by By the timeframe of the MMORPG (which is only a few years after BS2). * Remote outlying areas were more likely to be less disrupted by the Civil War (were able to isolate themselves). * Some people managed to escape from Rapture to return to the Surface World. --- --- --- --- 'Team' Combat Roles : * For the player's 'Team' when going into a combat situation in the 'Wild' or an infested sewer, have some kind of 'roles' designated for the individual NPCs - * like Scout or Rear Guard or Catcher so that the behavioral programming can have them act a little more appropriately without having the player have to micro-manage them with orders. Its also useful for choreographed 'Plays' with different 'actor' roles to play out a 'cutscene' for a quest/mission. * Multiple (many) roles with different duties can be designed and the player pre-set them as a basic control mechanism for situations where things start happening very fast (and clumsy order giving mechanisms wont be sufficient otherwise). --- --- --- --- --- Computers Talk : * Internal Network to link 'The Thinker' with the other computer systems (like the 'McClendon's Home Computer' in City Hall). Dedicated phone lines are being created between the key locations (unfortunately thru some rather bad 'Wild'/ruined Rapture territory). * Lots of boring 'routine' data is required for City organization - best not to have require humans to type in the same data over and over. Backup facilities are more secure at the Isolated Minerva's Den facility. * Punch cards (you can actually glue the 'chads' back in to reused the cards....) Many tons of used punchcards as well as new ones were found in various places. * Teletypes were a common method of computer input/output way back (a teletype simulated interface can be done for certain Quest related interactions). * Simple CRTs (is actually fed by a TV camera pointed at a Punch Card output from the computer) * If the Thinker can Talk (not since the damage that half disabled it) then it could make phone calls (Oh Great, Telemarketing is Invented...) * Maintenance Daddy coordination can be directed with tie-ins to the Central Computing Maintenance system. --- --- --- --- Existing Optics Technologies : * Bioluminescence - An outgrowth of the light replacement (lightbulbs) research using the glowing sealife (self-contained units very convenient for locations that have bad wiring - Splicers cam up with this use way back when things started falling apart). * Laser devices from Minerva's Den projects (one of the projects where great progress was made by scientists using BrainBoost - at least until their brains exploded). Has uses for communications as well as weapons and tools. * Various light detector technologies - - phototubes, photoresisters, photo-switches, electric eyes, TV cameras, plastic light pipes(lucite), etc.. were 40's technologies. Redevelopment of the 'Trap-Rivets' sensors for use in alarms (portalble electric eyes). * Research on the Sea Slug Bioluminescence (lots of non-ADAM producing Sea Slugs were found and were used for research) * Optical based Computing devices being investigated for use in 'The Thinker" (which already has ADAM based biological components). Computing "he allowed the mainframe to process data at the speed of thought" isn't anywhere as fast as optical processing would be. Making the programmers code faster more efficiently is a whole nuther problem. * A Sea Slug 'brain' used to process scanner input and control a Flying Patrol Bot (take more than relays and vacuum tubes) ** Helps to be able to 'grow' the control circuitry, along with simple training methods ... ** Control 'discs' created from a removed (non-ADAM) seaslug brain that had been trained/conditioned for the desired control logic - which were then 'baked' and 'doped' to convert their structure to X-isterized circuitry. ** Optical inputs from simple TV camera, cognitive functions(classifying targets), target movement controls, reaction behaviors, command execution, etc... (explains why the Flybots aren't that intelligent ...) --- --- --- The Thinker - acronym R.O.D.I.N (Rapture Operational Data Interpreter Network) : * "A supercomputer powered by an ADAM based artifical intelligence" implies biological components. * The logic 'disks' made from seaslug brains (of all types - not ADAM slugs) were treated with ADAM for their forming/conditioning/programming. * 'The Thinker' is made of thousands of these disks tied together to create the 'Thinking Network'. * New logic 'disks' are being produced to extend "The Thinker" as well as to build smaller general purpose control computers (and to restore some of the automatic systems in the City) * Since there are more than enough 'ordinary' seaslugs, there isn't any Bounty on them, though they still have some value as the Research labs regularly buy them. * A Laser Canon for the Lighthouse was proposed (to Ryan) after promising tests in Minerva's Den (probably a bid for funding when the unit was barely working). Besides having insufficient range to deal with smugglers ships (Ryan's main concern) scaling the unit up from the sized used for Fly-bots would have been a significant challenge. --- --- --- --- Generic Splicers : * We've seen alot of specialized Splicers with interesting but quite specific behaviors (unfortunately we often see them repeated, though that is mitigated by them having alot of random utterances ( http://bioshock.wikia.com/wiki/Breadwinner http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iiBrIX0EsiU ) * The ones we've seen in BS1/BS2 have largely been seen wandering about 'acting out' their delusional state and not carrying out ordinary functions (eating/sleeping/watching TV/etc...). They also aggressively attacked the player, which was after they were 'stirred up' by Ryan's pheromone command to eliminate intruders (and the bounty on Jack) or Lamb's similar orders to eliminate Delta (passed on by her petty bosses). * Splicers have 'a life' also (just like the NPC denizens of New Rapture have). They can NOT have been acting crazy the whole decade of time and survived, and thus must have more routine activities (which the Player will be able to witness when they stealthily invade the Splicers turf in 'the Wild'). * You might ask "when do we ever see Splicers in 'routine' state instead of when they simply come at us in combat ?". In THIS game you can do more 'scouting' and sneaking about and can catch Splicers unawares. You will also see alot more detail about where they live (more than a mattress and some empty food cans strewn about). Also with the proposed "Splicer Play" system you will witness the more normal behaviors of Splicers 'in situ'. * Good news is that alot of the routine 'day-to-day' activities are pretty much the same as for the Non-Splicer NPC Citizens of New Rapture (and even the Player's avatar characters when they are left on automatic). SO those animations and behavior scriptings can largely be reused, though possibly edging to more extreme variants (Splicers are easily frustrated in their mental state). * A wide spectrum of 'Splicer-ation' is present in the Splicer communities, with some Splicers only partially effected by ADAM side-effects (and also possibly with fewer Plasmid powers). * Splicer Society would have several systems of Hierarchy (who possesses power/influence): ** Based on combat power - who has the most damaging/effective killing power ** Based on technical know-how/skills - some Splicers are good using weapons which can often trump Plasmid abilities. ** Based on providing something other Splicers want, to have leverage (and would be lost if the 'specialist' was eliminated/uncooperative...). ** Based on cleverness and persuasiveness (big bad plasmid splicer has to sleep sometime and/or can be overcome if you gang up on them). ** Based on delusion and the ability of others to 'buy into' that delusion. --- --- --- Splicer Society Simulation : ''' * In order for Players to interact correctly with the Splicers they run into, the Splicer's environment needs to be correctly detailed (including all the real goodies that make at least interesting 'loot' along with more mundane stuff). * Normal survival functions would be simulated (getting food, safe place to sleep, avoiding enemies, etc..) and the Splicers would modify their environments to effect those functions. That is similar to the 'Fitting' behaviors the Auto-generation mechanism uses to integrate individual and groups of Citizen NPCs in New Rapture. * Splicers are usually part of a faction - which as a group has behaviors/patterns imposed upon it. Splicer behavior is not simply with the physical environment, but also in relation to other Splicers (their own faction and others) * The Hierarchy in a Splicer Society can have a variety of roles (ie - leaders versus henchmen vs followers vs subjects) as can the Splicers have different occupations in the group according to Skill. * Much of this activity is ABSTRACTED when outside the Player's view, but must be followed thru so that when a Player shows up to see it the Splicers are in the middle of their appropriate behaviors and realistic situations. * Again, Good News is that the Citizen NPC (who are constantly under the scrutiny of Players) already would be using these same behavioral models/systems and the scripting/data involved need only be modified to match the Splicer variations. * Splicers are organized enough to have their own repair abilities/specialists/vehicles/tools/routines. --- --- --- '''Detailed Scenario Creation (for Quests) : * Choreographing a quest/mission with 'staged scenes', music and effects something like you can in a Solo game (with Player Created Assets you can have MANY times as many as you find in current MMORPGs - which make so many of them "pretty deserts"). They can also be made more intricate or specialized rather than the limited 'quest chains' MMORPGs are chronically afflicted with. * Detailed story and involvement of Player (who can be made to act out various movements and actions in a 'play') in the Quest/mission. * Dialog Tree for quest-giver NPC can have many 'information' branches that the player can return to access. * Specific details tailored to precisely fit story/player/situation are put together (versus total random/static auto-generation ). * Terrain with exact Prop placements can be generated, modified, etc... using an Instance bubble to build the needed situation. * Locations can be relocated (is not limited to exact location and world System allows instancing 'on-the-fly'). ** Lead-in Quest scripted with generic paths to get to the main scenario location ** Additional locations as needed * Quest can be made up of several 'precisely defined' sites (as long as they are placeable and have no external limitations and fit a somewhat generic world placement rules). * Example - you are told to 'meet the man' at a hotdog cart at the corner of Apollo Avenue and Wodin Street to get a map. That scene is set up (just have to place the cart and NPC in that area) and after the Quest the cart and NPC are gone. You then have to go somewhere else like a Foundation Tunnel that isn't really mapped very well to find something and eventually return to the Bar where you met the Quest-Giver for the reward or double-cross or whatever. * Such quests can be made 'one-shot' where the player gets only one attempt at it and whether they succeed or fail they are blocked from doing it again (where their prior knowledge makes it much easier to achieve). * Quests can leave permanent 'scars' on the terrain - which can be left to be seen at later times (this makes it handy to be able to relocate the 'scar' location in different places in the City). * Additional quests would be added as the Game was running, adding new experiences for the players (versus a few pathetic 'content drops' that current MMORPGs usually provide). --- --- --- Game (MMORPG) Macro Plot : Is there a plot progression in this MMORPG ?? : * The players efforts are to be reflected in the growth of New Rapture and the state of the environment and effect on the rest of the Rapture World. SO the map will change - not just in getting the City working again and the economy by in the interactions with the Splicer factions. ** Flexible Quest system allows for relocating Quest scenario locations as Players gobble up/advance into city terrain. ** New (Player Created Stuff) Quests can be programmed/directed to happen in newest map areas Players have reached. ** Locations isolated to Players (adjacent to existing accessible terrain) can suddenly be opened up (even close in to the City Center). * Don't really want an 'ending' - auto-expansion covers one angle of that (can keep growing always with more 'the wild' area available and new remote locations outside the immediate Cityscape). Players come in in middle of an ongoing story. --- --- --- Splicers are flexible in placement in new terrain (adaptive/fitting logic) : * Small and large opponent groups (factions) some generic so can be easily cloned in new location and others can 'get away' in the Quest/mission to set up somewhere else. * Reaction chart to determine interactions between all factions (and New Rapture) - varying relations like being at war/feud or being allies/vassals or just 'trading' or "don't care". * Splicers can even advance back into 'citified' territory to conflict with Players. --- --- --- Factions shifting control of territory : * Abstract 'Cell' based automata simulation to make adjustments to match game situation (overall abstract situation map can be subject to GM corrections/adjusting). * Cell map is a Terrain network map of occupyable locations (not really a contiguous 2D map - more a map of linked locations). * Position connectivity and the resources contained determine goals and tactics (offense/defense/allies/etc..) * Splicer Factions shift as Players expand (and since the scripting behavior allows for auto-fitting adaptations) * Influence Map mechanism (areas of control of factions/mini-factions) ** Abstract concentric territory boundries (Stronghold/core, territory, frontier, 'no mans land') for factions overlaid on actual map. ** Faction Territory can shift as time goes on (control of areas as faction gains/loses influence/power) ** Important Factors for Faction's to control : *** Food Sources *** Transportation access (working Metro or Street paths) *** EVEplant gardens *** Access to trading sources (with friendly/neutrals) *** Clean/Dry/Warm habitation (even Splicers get sick of being damp and cold) *** Defensible positions (a good strong base location, ability to close off/control approaches) *** Docking facilities (for those with subs) *** Airlock facilities (for those with Diving Suits to access the all important fishing/seaweed harvesting) *** Scrounging areas (for misc items, either to trade or use) *** Buffer area between faction and enemies (sufficient 'frontier' to fight in and not in own 'territory') *** Maintenance Daddies come around to keep the area repaired (and the area isnt ready to fall apart). --- --- --- GM intervention to keep things moving in the game : * Can make corrections adjusting factions if things get into unforseen 'bad' state (or to repair sideeffects of loopholes) * GMs might (infrequently) direct Splicer factions to enhance the faction AIs strategies (complex/intelligent strategy is actually hard to program and wont be a priority when GMs are available to tweak things). * 'Events' (staged situation that are open to all players) can be scheduled more/less frequently to vary the players experience. * Guidance to the 'Player Created Asset' Community to fill in deficiencies discovered once the game is operational (like not enough entry level 'easy' quests). --- --- --- --- --- Neon sign making Tool : * Important detail to help customize different parts of Rapture (including 'ruined' locations out in the 'Wild') * Create a neon sign - Inside window and marquee or External Building sides/edge vertical/horizontal * For businesses - Player/NPC run companies/shops * Font layout & lines from continuous tubes * Plates (lighted mask for smaller text) * Different colors (different gasses generate different colors) * Template driven game creation that creates the asset in the Client (from parameterized data/directives) * Animations (sequenced on/off) and controllable 'Vacancy' and 'Open' signs. * Post to Community for voting popularity (contests etc...) * Mounting structures to turn into prop objects. --- --- --- 'Stained glass Tool : ' * Players Create stained glass assets (classic lead strip with glass panes) for decorations * Shaping (straight line convex panes) as done with actual stained glass * Colors of glass (wide range and intensities) * Template driven asset building that creates the asset in the Client (from parameterized data/directives) - instead of a canned asset that takes up space in the Asset Dictionary (when there will be many hundreds of them) * Backlighting option for use as art display on a wall --- --- --- --- --- . .